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Today’s
#MindfulnessMonday Tip: No one likes to feel
afraid, so when you do listen to your subconscious and act accordingly. Don’t
judge… don’t doubt… don’t brush it off. Your fear is your subconscious telling
you something and you should listen.

Mindfulness of fear,
what is it?

Emotional Mindfulness is staying in touch with your emotions. Therefore, Mindfulness of Fear is staying in touch with your fear and what triggers your fear. Staying present in the moment-to-moment embodied experience of feeling afraid. It means experiencing the sensation of fear, without judging it or trying to push it away. At the same time, mindfulness of these emotions means you don’t have to justify the feelings. Just feel them and act accordingly.

For the next 24 hours, I want you to be open and
accepting of all your emotions. Don’t stifle them, don’t ignore them, and don’t
judge! Accept your emotions for what they are, your subconscious talking to you
and sending you messages about how you feel about certain situations. Allow
yourself to feel… everything… This act of emotional mindfulness will help you
better understand yourself and keep you grounded in in who you are.

Mindfulness Journaling:

Throughout the day,
as your moving through the emotional mindfulness exercise, I want you to take
time to jot down what emotions you’re experiencing. Don’t judge them as right
or wrong, don’t try to justify them. Simply write down the emotion and a quick note
as to what you believe triggered the emotion. You’ll be able to go back to this
journal time and time again to see if there is a pattern to your emotional
reactions to situations either at work, at home, or among friends and family.

This exercise and
journaling are designed to help you accept your emotions and better understand
what events and who might trigger certain emotional spikes.

Mindfulness journaling can be very
private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your
experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out
my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you
never miss an episode!

Would you prefer to watch the video tips rather than reading them? CLICK HERE

#MindfulnessMonday Tip: Anne Lamott said it best when she said, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

Why should we unplug?

Our lives have never been more automated than they are right now. We have instant access to information, which fifteen or twenty years ago would have been unheard of. Yet, with all these advances which are designed to make our lives easier and more efficient, we still spend less time resting then we ever did before. Hence the need to unplug and recharge!

Unplugging doesn’t necessarily mean sleep… it means rest. Rest
from the constant overload of technology. It means to take a break, both
physically and mentally. Step away from the screens, from 24/7 connection, and allow
yourself to find calm, peace, and stillness.

The loss of truly recharging sleep, that so many of us
experience, is a huge and sadly common factor in daily unhappiness and
increased stress.

Our brains and bodies are resilient, but the more we add to
our to do list, the more screen time we allow ourselves, the more stress we add
to our daily lives the less rest we get when we actually lay down at night. A
lack of restful sleep can lead to not only increased stress, depression, and a
feeling over overall fatigue throughout the day – it can lead to severe medical
conditions.

I encourage you to see your doctor for advice if you feel
that your lack of restful sleep is getting worse or has been chronically poor
over a long period of time.

This one might be hard for some of you, but the benefits
are worth it… I want you to pick a day, 24 hours minimum, where you are going
to completely unplug. I recommend a non-work day. Turn off your phone, unplug
your computer, television, gaming system, and any other electronic devise that
might tempt you.
Spend time outside, reading, playing cards or board games with your friends and
family, cooking, whatever activities that make you happy as long as there is no
technology involved.

Mindfulness Journaling:

After you’ve
completed your 24 Hour Unplug and Recharge Exercise, spend five to ten minutes
journaling how the exercise made you feel. Its completely normal to have experiences
a little anxiety about not being socially connected. Its even normal to
experience the fear of missing out. Record everything you felt, good and bad,
that way when you complete the exercise the next time you can see if and how
these emotions have changed. The more often you complete the exercise, the easy
you will find it gets.

Mindfulness journaling can be very
private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your
experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Seventeen-year-old
Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and
privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress
fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often
slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic
medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey
into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her
close to her own sheltered world.

The story’s shocking twists and turns, augmented with real, sinister
period photos, will make this #1 New York Times bestselling debut
from author Kerri Maniscalco impossible to forget.

I’ve
always been fascinated with the minds of serial killers. Not in a creepy way,
but in a ‘how could anyone possible do that’ sort of way. My mind tries to
understand that which cannot be understood… With that said, I’ve read a number of
books about Jack the Ripper and I’ve even played his final victim in the play,
The Belles of Whitechapel by Wayne Miller. So, when someone asked me to read and
review this book, I jumped at the opportunity.

WRITING (★★★★): Maniscalco’s writing style is
detailed and fluid. I love how easily I was swept away to the late 1800’s while
Jack the Ripper was roaming the streets. Although, at times, the story seemed
to drag, bogged down by unnecessary scenes, it didn’t distract me from the over
all story. I loved Maniscalco’s style and am eager to read more.

STORY (★★★★): Audrey Rose, our heroine, is a member
of high society expected to attend tea, brunch with the ladies, and accept her
place in society as an uneducated woman. However, Audrey Rose doesn’t accept
that. She has a passion for knowledge and a curiosity for forensic science. Sneaking
behind her father’s back, she studies under the tutelage of her uncle, spending
many days elbow deep in the viscera of the latest cadaver.

The
author leads us down a few paths, making the reader question who the killer,
Jack the Ripper, really is. I’ll admit, I made a couple wrong guesses, but I
got it right on my third try about half way through the book. If you pay
attention, the clues are there.

CHARACTERS (★★★★): The book has
a small cast of primary characters, the two main characters being Audrey Rose and
Thomas Cresswell. We’re also introduced to Audrey’s Uncle Jonathan, her brother
Nathaniel, her father Lord Edmund Wadsworth, her Aunt Amelia, and her cousin Liza
with a few other thrown in throughout the story.

Audrey Rose isn’t your typical 1800’s lady, but I
found her to be fun, feisty, and all around relatable. Like many teenagers, she
often acts without thinking, she jumps to conclusions, and she puts herself in dangerous
positions. She is strong willed and brave. It’s that bravery and courage that I
enjoyed the most about her character. The way she didn’t care about blending in…
fitting in… she was who she was and she didn’t care what other people thought
about her.

Thomas
Cresswell, who fancies Audrey Rose from just about the moment he spots her is
the devilishly handsome, smooth talking, bad boy. Or at least that’s what he
wants you to believe. I loved the way that he and Audrey play off each other. There
is chemistry between them from the start, but back in the 1800’s it wasn’t
proper to act on emotions so there is also a lot of restraint. That push and pull
of emotions is fun to read.

APPEARANCE (★★★★★): The cover is beautiful. We have a clear image
of what Audrey Rose looks like, although, I’ll admit she isn’t the girl I was
picturing as I read the book. We also get a visual of her world, the dark
streets of Victorian-era London. I think the cover artist did a beautiful job.

FAVORITE
QUOTES:

“Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark
flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show
the world your bravery.”

“Fear is a hungry beast. The more you feed
it, the more it grows.”

“In my spare time I flay open bodies of the
deceased. Two of whom were victims of leather Apron. The scent that hung in the
room would drop a man to his knees, and I aided my uncle during the postmortems
while standing in gelled blood. Whatever you have to show us won’t be too much
for my stomach to handle, I assure you.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats.

Check out my YouTube channel and the video
review below… and make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss a video.

Also by Kerri Maniscalco

Becoming the Dark Prince

In this irresistibly-priced short story, catch a glimpse of the inner struggles and triumphs that drive Stalking Jack the Ripper‘s endearing but troubled hero. Enigmatic, brooding, and darkly handsome, Thomas Cresswell has always been the one mystery Audrey Rose has never been able to fully solve. As brilliant partners in crime investigation, they understand each other perfectly…

but as young lovers, their passionate natures have led to both euphoria and heartbreak throughout the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. This novella features a collection of scenes that takes place during and after the pair’s horrifying Atlantic voyage in Escaping From Houdini. Experience new and familiar scenes from Thomas’s unique point of view, including an intensely personal look into his plea for Audrey Rose’s hand in marriage. With a romance for the ages, Audrey Rose and Thomas reach the conclusion to their epic, irresistible partnership in their final adventure, Capturing the Devil.

In this New York Times bestselling thriller, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer…or has the depraved prince been brought back to life? FEATURES BONUS CONTENT EXCLUSIVE TO THIS PAPERBACK EDITION!

Following the grief
and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose
Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the
arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania,
home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine…and to another
notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream
is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding
castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar
murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell find themselves aboard a luxurious ocean liner that becomes a floating prison of horror when passengers are murdered one by one…with nowhere to run from the killer.

The #1 bestselling series that started with Stalking Jack the Ripper and Hunting Prince Dracula continues its streak in this third bloody installment…. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, Audrey Rose

Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The strange and disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow more and more bizarre. It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation before more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?

Capturing the Devil

In the shocking finale to the bestselling series that began with Stalking Jack the Ripper, Audrey Rose and Thomas are on the hunt for the depraved, elusive killer known as the White City Devil. A deadly game of cat-and-mouse has them fighting to stay one step ahead of the brilliant serial killer—or see their fateful romance cut short by unspeakable tragedy.

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell have landed in America, a bold, brash land unlike the genteel streets of London.

But like London, the city of Chicago hides its dark secrets well. When the two attend the spectacular World’s Fair, they find the once-in-a-lifetime event tainted with reports of missing people and unsolved murders.

Determined to help,
Audrey Rose and Thomas begin their investigations, only to find themselves
facing a serial killer unlike any they’ve encountered before. Identifying him
is one thing, but capturing him—and getting dangerously lost in the infamous
Murder Hotel he constructed as a terrifying torture device—is another.

Will Audrey Rose and Thomas see their last mystery to the end—together and in love—or will their fortunes finally run out when their most depraved adversary makes one final, devastating kill?

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Feeling exhausted or just not yourself? Take a nap!

The Power of Napping:

Napping
can boost your immune system.

Napping
can improve both your daytime and your nighttime alertness.

Napping
plus a little caffeine boost are a one-two punch against sleepiness.

Napping
can help you learn new skills and improve your memory.

Napping
can improve your physical stamina.

Napping
for as little as 90-minutes is as good as a full night’s sleep for perceptual
learning.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:ENERGY BOOSTING NAP!

Studies show that taking a 10 to 20-minute nap in the middle
of the day can help boost your energy and get you right back in the swing of
thigs immediately after you wake up. Need a little memory jogger or are you focusing
on a big project with quickly approaching deadlines? A 60-minute nap is a great
way to increase focus and an excellent memory booster.

With that in mind, what type of nap do you need today?

I want you to allow yourself a little time, even if its
just 10-20 minutes in your car on your lunch break, to close your eyes and take
a nap. Napping gives your brain a reboot. When you wake up, you’re refreshed
and ready to get back at it. *Note: Make sure you set an alarm on your phone or
other devise to ensure you wake up on time.

Mindfulness Journaling:

Today’s mindfulness
journal is a two-part journaling exercise.

PART 1 – Prior to your energy boosting nap, write down how you’re feeling. What is your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10? Do you feel like you got enough sleep last night? How many cups of coffee have you had today and do you think you’ll have another?

PART 2 – After your energy boosting nap, write down how you’re feeling. Did you fall asleep quickly? Was it easy to wake up? Do you feel more or less productive after your nap?

Mindfulness journaling can be very
private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your
experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out
my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you
never miss an episode!

What does it mean to clean a room mindfully? It means to go slow, to appreciate each and every item in the room. As you clean, ask yourself how you feel about each item and what each item means to you. What emotions do you associate with each item as you pick it up, dust it, polish it, etc. Explore feelings of self-appreciation. Appreciate your physical ability to clean: the ability to bend, stretch, lift, and carry. How does the room feel when you’re finished cleaning? How do you feel?

Mindfulness Journaling:

After completing the ‘Clean
a Room Mindfully’ activity, describe how both you and the room have changed.
How do you feel now that the chore has been completed? How does the newly
cleaned room make you feel?

Mindfulness journaling can be very
private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your
experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out
my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you
never miss an episode!

Today’s
#MindfulnessMonday Tip: We can’t all meditate
at work, and that’s ok, but you can still take advantage of the benefits mindfulness
has to offer, like stress reduction and increased focus.

5 tips for bringing
mindfulness into your WORK life:

Be
Consciously Present – being consciously present means that you are aware not
only of what is going on around you, but also what’s going on within you. Mindfulness
can help you be consciously present in what you’re doing, while you’re doing
it, as well as managing your mental and emotional state.

Use
Short Mindful Exercises at Work – Finding time for a 30-minute mindfulness
exercise such as mediation can be hard a work, if not impossible. Does that
mean you can’t be mindful at work? Not at all. Mindfulness exercises can be as
short as just one minute, you don’t even need to close your eyes or be sitting down.
Be creative about finding time throughout your day to connect with your senses.
This process helps to tone down the fight-or-flight response we can feel when
stressed, engages your brain, and helps us focus on individual tasks to
increase productivity and reduce stress.

Be
a Single-Tasker – Multi-tasking is known to increase stress and reduce
productivity leaving us feeling more overwhelmed than necessary. Try focusing
on just one task at a time and keep a ‘to do’ list, adding items throughout the
day instead of moving from one task to another, so that you stay on track.

Use
Reminders to Stay Mindful – Until mindfulness becomes a habit in your daily
life, it might be helpful to set an alarm on your phone – even a vibrating
alarm that doesn’t disturb others while working – to remind you to take time to
practice mindfulness. One mindful reminder I really enjoy is the Breathe app on
my smart watch. It reminds me once every hour to take a minute and just
breathe.

Accept
What You Can’t Change – This one isn’t always easy at first. However,
acceptance lies at the heart of mindfulness. To be mindful means to accept this
present moment as it is. Once you are able to accept your current moment… your
current situation… you will be able to move past it and try and deal with the
situation. If there has been a mistake at work, accept that it happened… it can’t
be changed… Once you can accept the situation you can learn from the mistake and
move on. Acceptance leads to change where a lack of acceptance can lead to
avoidance and even aggression.

For the next thirty (30) minutes I want you to pick one
task – ONLY ONE TASK – and focus solely on that one task. When you find your
mind wandering to other things, jot down a quick note so you don’t forget then
move back to the original task.

Practicing single-tasking can help increase productivity,
improve focus, and reduce stress. You just might find this becomes your new preferred
working style.

Mindfulness Journaling:

How did you feel
completing your 30 minutes of single-tasking? Did you complete the task? How
many times did you find yourself becoming distracted with other tasks?

I’d love for you to
complete both the 30-minute single-tasking exercise and the mindfulness
journaling reflection once a day for two weeks. Studies show that with consistent
practice, your results will improve increasing your productivity and improving
your mental focus.

Check out
my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you
never miss an episode!

Today’s
#MindfulnessMonday Tip: Becoming more mindful
of how you proceed through your day to day activities is the antidote to
feeling like you’re just running in circles. Think of it this way, it is so
easy to just go through life on auto-pilot. We procrastinate… fail to get
things done on time… don’t get enough sleep or exercise. So, when you become
more mindful, it’s about being more present and aware of your behavior in the
moment. Mindfulness helps you change the habits, like procrastination, that are
no longer serving you.

7 tips for bringing
mindfulness into your life:

Meditation – Taking just
5 minutes a day to sit quietly and focus on your breathing can help you feel
more conscious and connected for the rest of the day.

Focus on one thing at
a time – Studies show that tasks take 50% longer with 50 % more errors when
multi-tasking, so consider focusing on one task at a time, with breaks in
between tasks whenever possible.

Slow down – Enjoy the
process, no matter what you’re doing. Deliberate and thoughtful attention to
daily actions like writing a report at work, drinking your morning coffee, or
washing the dinner dishes, can promote healthy focus and keep you from feeling
overwhelmed.

Eat mindfully –
Eating without the distraction of a television, computer, or smart phone in front
of you allows you to truly taste and enjoy what you’re eating. Eating mindfully
is good, not only for your body, but for your mind and soul as well.

Keep phone and
computer time in check – It is so easy in today’s world to get overwhelmed by
all of the technology we have at our fingertips. Information overload is a real
thing. You need to set boundaries for screen time, not only for your children
but for yourself as well.

Move – It’s important
to move throughout the day. Your body needs it! So, whether it’s walking,
stretching, or just getting away from your desk for a few minutes to grab a
glass of water, be aware of your body’s sensations and move whenever needed.

Spend time in nature –
Take a walk through the park, the woods, mountain trails, or my personal
favorite – on the beach. Just get outside wherever you can. Getting outdoors is
good for your body, mind and spirit and it keeps you in the present moment.

If you don’t have the ability to be outside, in nature, that’s
ok. You can do this exercise anywhere, but there are added benefits when you
walk in nature.

Step 1 – It doesn’t matter where you are, just start walking.

Step 2 – As you walk, pay attention to your breathing. How does
the air feel as you pull it into your lungs? How does it feel as it leaves your
body? Pay attention to what parts of your body move as you breathe in and out.
Spend a few minutes just focusing on the full experience of breathing.

Step 3 – Next, focus on the rest of your body. How do your feet
feel with each step? What are your arms doing? Do they hang at your sides or
swing back and forth? Notice all of the physical sensations associated with
walking.

Step 4 – What do you hear? Next I want you to listen, outside
of yourself. What do you hear around you as you walk? It might be the sound of
your shoes on the sidewalk, crunching leaves under your feet, the wind in the
trees, birds, or even a barking dog. Practice simply being open to all the
sounds around you. Don’t search for them, but listen to them when they come.

Step 5 – What do you see? Notice all of the images around you –
above, below, in front of, and to the sides of you. Notice the colors and the
textures. Don’t search for anything but be aware as new things come into view.

Step 6 – As you complete your walk, I want you to shift your
attention from one sensation to the next, taking in every experience in your
internal and external environment. But most importantly, breathe… nice slow
deep breathes as you allow your body to relax into the natural movement of
walking.

Mindfulness Journaling:

After you’ve
completed your mindfulness nature walk, I want you to take 5 minutes, in a
quiet place, to reflect on how the walk made you feel. With pen and paper – not
a computer, tablet, or smart phone – I want you to write down all the sensations
you can recall from the walk and how you felt both during the nature walk and how
you feel now after its over.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with this short 60-Second Breathing Mediation.

Check out
my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you
never miss an episode!